READING
From Liber Cheth.
- This is the secret of the Holy Graal, that is the sacred
vessel of our Lady the Scarlet Woman, Babalon the Mother of Abominations,
the bride of Chaos, that rideth upon our Lord the Beast.
- Thou shalt drain out thy blood that is thy life into the
golden cup of her fornication.
- Thou shalt mingle thy life with the universal life. Thou
shalt keep not back one drop.
- Then shall thy brain be dumb, and thy heart beat no more,
and all thy life shall go from thee; and thou shalt be cast out
upon the midden, and the birds of the air shall feast upon thy
flesh, and thy bones shall whiten in the sun.
- Then shall the winds gather themselves together, and bear
thee up as it were a little heap of dust in a sheet that hath
four corners, and they shall give it unto the guardians of the
abyss.
- And because there is no life therein, the guardians of the
abyss shall bid the angels of the winds pass by. And the angels
shall lay thy dust in the City of the Pyramids, and the name
thereof shall be no more.
- Now therefore that thou mayest achieve this ritual of the
Holy Graal, do thou divest thyself of all thy goods.
- Thou hast wealth; give it unto them that have need thereof,
yet no desire toward it.
- Thou hast health; slay thyself in the fervour of thine abandonment
unto Our Lady. Let thy flesh hang loose upon thy bones, and
thine eyes glare with thy quenchless lust unto the Infinite,
with thy passion for the Unknown, for Her that is beyond Knowledge
the accursed one.
- Thou hast love; tear thy mother from thine heart, and spit
in the face of thy father. Let thy foot trample the belly of
thy wife, and let the babe at her breast be the prey of dogs
and vultures.
- For if thou dost not this with thy will, then shall We do
this despite thy will. So that thou attain to the Sacrament
of the Graal in the Chapel of Abominations.
- And behold! if by stealth thou keep unto thyself one thought
of thine, then shalt thou be cast out into the abyss for ever;
and thou shalt be the lonely one, the eater of dung, the afflicted
in the Day of Be-with-Us.
- Yea! verily this is the Truth, this is the Truth, this is
the Truth. Unto thee shall be granted joy and health and wealth
and wisdom when thou art no longer thou.
- Then shall every gain be a new sacrament, and it shall not
defile thee; thou shalt revel with the wanton in the market-place,
and the virgins shall fling roses upon thee, and the merchants
bend their knees and bring thee gold and spices. Also young
boys shall pour wonderful wines for thee, and the singers and
the dancers shall sing and dance for thee.
- Yet shalt thou not be therein, for thou shalt be forgotten,
dust lost in dust.
- Nor shall the æon itself avail thee in this; for from
the dust shall a white ash be prepared by Hermes the Invisible.
- And this is the wrath of God, that these things should be
thus.
- And this is the grace of God, that these things should be
thus.
- Wherefore I charge you that ye come unto me in the Beginning;
for if ye take but one step in this Path, ye must arrive inevitably
at the end thereof.
- This Path is beyond Life and Death; it is also beyond Love;
but that ye know not, for ye know not Love.
- And the end thereof is known not even unto Our Lady or to
the Beast whereon She rideth; nor unto the Virgin her daughter
nor unto Chaos her lawful Lord; but unto the Crowned Child is
it known? It is not known if it be known.
- Therefore unto Hadit and unto Nuit be the glory in the End
and the Beginning; yea, in the End and the Beginning.
RESPONSORY
- Oh Babalon, thou mighty Mother, that ridest upon the crownèd
beast; let thy kisses wanton me unto death, that even I, thy
cup-bearer, may understand.
- --- O my God, in one last rapture
let me attain to the union with the many.
- And this is the secret of the brothers of the Rosy Cross;
and this is the heart of the ritual that is accomplished in
the Vault of the Adepts that is hidden in the Mountain of the
Caverns, even the Holy Mountain Abiegnus.
- --- O my God, in one last rapture
let me attain to the union with the many.